Never Embarrassed
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: In which Laxus accidentally says those three precious words first. - One-shot.


Never Embarrassed

Mirajane was still slightly drowsy when she opened her eyes. The thing that was annoying her was the fact that Laxus Dreyar had rolled his sleep and was at that point blowing directly in her face. She shut her eyes again for a few minutes after shifting, but it was too hard to find sleep again. Blinking her eyes open once more, she moved closer to him with a sigh.

It was getting close to sunrise. She needed to get back to her home before then to get ready for work. First though…

A few kisses woke Laxus up rather quickly. She pressed them against his cheek and nose, which always got his interest. He always kinda laughed whenever she did it and told her that she was the only woman he'd ever been with that liked to do such a thing. It was cute, he thought. Especially when she tried to stand on her tiptoes and kiss his forehead. It was more of kissing him between the eyes, but he usually appreciated the gesture.

Mirajane could do no wrong in Laxus' tinted eyes.

At the moment, those very eyes were fluttering open in annoyance. She could tell by the slight noise he let out as he awoke that he was still tired. Even after she left, he'd go back to sleep and stay that way for at least another five hours. He was a beast when he was out on a job, but at home he just slept, drank, and got laid.

It was kinda his motto.

Still, when his eyes focused on her grin, he only laid there, not making a complaint.

"What are you doing, Mira?" he mumbled eventually, reaching up to scratch his chest. "It's only-"

"I have to go soon," she told him, giggling when he frowned. "You know that."

"Take off."

"I can't."

"Can too."

"Laxus-"

"Why do you gotta go home?" He laid the hand over her then, leaving it laying loosely around her waist. "I want you here."

"You're so cute." She was still tired though and only rolled to lay on her stomach then "I don't have anything to wear over here or else-"

"You have to have some amount of clothes over here by now," he grumbled as he moved closer, his mouth right next to his ear then. "Just throw something together. Or wear one of my shirts."

"One of your shirts?"

"Mmmhmm. It'd be so fucking hot."

"I think, Laxus, that you're delusional and need to go back to sleep."

"Nah, I'm not." He kissed the side of her head. "But if you have to go-"

"I do."

"-then at least say for another hour."

"Laxus-"

"We're comfortable," he pointed out. "Why ruin it?"

His room was rather dark for the most part. His window at the moment though was casting in the light from the moon outside and when she turned her head, she could see his face clearly. Mirajane smiled, just watching him for a moment. Laxus responded by kissing her lips gently before nuzzling her neck.

"Laxus," she giggled as he kissed her neck then. "You really want me to stay?"

He only grunted, but it was enough for her.

"Thirty more minutes. Maybe."

That worked for him. For the first few minutes though, they both just laid there, staring at one another, daring the other to fall back asleep first. Eventually, Mira sighed and spoke.

"Laxus," she whispered softly and he felt…weird. But he knew he was reading the mood right and his breath caught slightly. "I-"

"I love you too, Mira."

"-am a little cold and was wondering if you had another blanket," she finished slowly, as if unsure of what he had just said. His face said it all though. She let out a slight breath. "L-Laxus-"

"I…I didn't…" He shifted away from her then, but his bed wasn't that big. He hardly moved. His arm did get removed from around her though. "I thought you were-"

"You love me?"

"Mira-"

"It's okay," she said slowly as she shifted slightly. "I just wasn't expecting it. You-"

"It's stupid. Never mind."

"It's not stupid, Laxus. In fact, I-"

"I didn't mean to say it. I just thought you were going to say it and-"

"But you meant it, right?" She tried to look him in the eyes, but he refused to meet hers. "Laxus-"

"You wanted to leave? Then go. I-"

"It's not a bad thing, Laxus, to love someone. You just-"

"Did I fucking say it was? Now-"

"We've been together for nearly a year," she said then, the words sounding odd on her tongue. They had been though. Sort of. He was gone a lot and she worked a lot, but they had only been with one another for about eleven months. That alone was quite the commitment for them both. "Normal people would have said it by now, it by now, I think. So-"

"Shut up, Mira. It was stupid. Just leave."

"I'm not mad at you." She reached out to touch his face, but he turned his head. "Laxus-"

"It's not-"

"Are you mad that I didn't say it?"

That made him look her back in the eyes. "You tricked me."

"How? And I'm still cold, by the way."

Groaning, he turned to shove out off the bed, though he just sat on the side of it for a moment. Mira stared at his bare back for a moment before sighing.

"I love you, Lax-"

"It doesn't count now."

Mira frowned. "You sound like a woman."

"Shut the fuck up. And you shouldn't just try to placate me. I might have said it first, but I won't say it again, so just-"

"Is that it then? You said it first? So what?" Mira snuggled back into the pillows then. "I don't care. I think it's cute. And I do love you too, I guess. I just never thought to say it. You're always so…gruff and hardcore that I didn't think you would want me to say it. But if you do, fine. I love you, Laxus."

"Stop it."

"Why?" She gave him her best sexy stare then, but it was wasted as he was still only showing her his back. Pouting then, she said, "Laxus-"

"Let me get you the damn blanket." He pushed up then, heading out of the room, no doubt to get the quilt that he had in the living room.

Mira only shifted around though with a frown. She had always played the word love close to the vest, especially with Laxus. Any time she felt it slipping out, she drug it back in, convinced that it would ruin whatever it was they had going on, scare him off. There he was though, only minutes before, telling her that he loved her. It'd be a lie to say that didn't make her a tad nervous.

She dated, fine, and sort of had boyfriends at times, but nothing like Laxus. And she knew that he had never had a woman in his life the way she was entangled in it. This was new territory for her, she knew, but she was assuming it was new for him too.

When he got back to her, he just threw the blanket at her before moving to lay down in bed again. Mira threw it over her body quickly before trying to cuddle up against Laxus.

He only shoved her off with a grunt.

"Laxus-"

"Go back to sleep."

"You're not being fair. So I didn't say it at the same time as you. Who cares? I do love you. A lot. And I'm not nearly as afraid as you to admit it."

Snort. "Then why did you never say it?"

"Because you're so weird, Laxus, about me being clingy and stuff." She stared into his eyes. "If you want to know the truth, I actually already have our wedding planned."

That made him blink. "You what?"

"And I want our son to look like you."

He'd just opened a can of worms that he never wanted to. "Mirajane-"

"Oh, and for the record, you get to name none of the children, so don't ask."

Suddenly, his little admission seemed like nothing. That time when Mira cuddled against him, he only sighed and let her snuggle up to him.

"So see, Laxus? I do love you." She kissed his chest. "I just-"

"I swear, Mira, if you start describing what sort of house we're going to buy when we get-"

"I already have it picked out. Oh, and for this all to go according to my fantasy, I'm going to become guild master at some point and you're going to-"

"Wait, what?"

She looked up at him. "Uh, fantasizing over here. Shush."

"What am I then? If you're the guild master?"

"Well, Laxus, someone has to tend to the bar still, don't they?"

That got her nose a pinch, but Mira only giggled and turned to bury her head in his chest. It was so easy to distract him. Too easy.

So they fell asleep then, slowly, Laxus with his arms tightly wrapped around her. Mira giggled at one point and whispered that she loved him, but didn't expect a reply back. Now that he had embarrassed himself, she figured it'd be another long few weeks if not months before he said it again.

She could wait.

Still though, when they finally did fall back asleep, neither noticed the time or the fact that the sun was slowly rising outside. It wasn't until it was high in the sky and Laxus finally fully rested that he realized something.

"Hey, Mira?" he whispered after opening his eyes and blinking a few times. Yep, she really was still there, all snuggled up on his chest. Her hair looked nice with the sunlight hitting it just right as it streamed in from the windows. Still though, he had to do the inevitable and inform her of the problem. "Mirajane?"

"Mmmm?" She opened her eyes slowly before glancing up at him. "Mmmm."

He nuzzled the top of her head then before slowly whispering, "We got an issue."

"Hmmm?"

"It's kinda noon, babe, and you're kinda-"

"What?" She sat up quickly while he only widened his eyes at how quickly her tone could change. "Are you serious? Oh no. I didn't mean to- This is all your fault!"

"What?"

"You tricked me, Laxus, with all that love stuff and then you made me go back to sleep and now…now I'm more than late! I-"

"Wow, Mirajane," he mumbled as she crawled over him and out of bed. "For a future master, you'd think you'd be more punctual."

That got him a dirty glare before she began pulling on her clothes from last night.

"I am so dead, Laxus. It's not funny."

"Babe, you're already late," he pointed out. "And if you need me to walk you in there and say that you were, like, sick or something, I will. I-"

"Yes, Laxus, because that won't seem even more suspicious or anything."

He fell back onto the bed, just watching her. "Then what are you going to do?"

"Tell them that Laxus Dreyar told me he loved me first and that I passed out from shock."

Narrowing his eyes, he said, "Mirajane-"

"I'll tell them I overslept, alright? Believe me, your secret is safe with me since it's so embarrassing to love me."

He frowned at hearing her say something like that. As if it would be a shameful to not only bang the hottest woman alive, but to have her love you. How could you not love her back? "It's not embarrassing, Mirajane. It's just-"

"I have to go." She went to give him a quick kiss after she was dressed before turning to rush out of the room. "I-"

"It's not a secret, Mira, so don't act like-"

"Bye, Laxus."

He growled after she left the room, his front door closing not soon after. Great. Just great.

It took him two hours to shower, eat, stop by the market, and then get down to the guild. And by the time he got there, Mira was already in her groove and had that stupid fake smile on her face and that overly simple tone to make her sound naïve and cute.

It annoyed the hell out of him.

When she saw him though, walking towards the bar, and what he had in his arms, her face lost that dopey look as she cocked her head to the side.

"L-Laxus," she said slowly as he made it up to the bar. "What are you doing?"

"Here," he grumbled as Lisanna, who was seated at the bar, glanced over at him with a frown. Handing off the roses in his arms, he said, "Take 'em."

"Why'd you get her flowers, Laxus?" Lisanna asked as she sat up taller, frowning slightly. She liked Laxus with her sister enough, but was very easy to envy when Laxus did things for Mirajane. The past few years of flirting around the edge with Natsu and all Lisanna ever got was a fish occasionally.

"'cause I love her," he said simply, his tone not so gruff then. Mira had been smelling her flowers, but looked up then. When she met his eyes, he cleared his throat and said, "I do, Mira. And don't ever think that I'm embarrassed about it, alright? 'cause I'm not. I'll never be embarrassed by you."

"Aw, Laxus!" Suddenly, he heard that annoying blonde chick behind him and held down a groan. She had no doubt come over to investigate Mira's roses and overheard him. "You're cute."

She took a seat next to Lisanna who only giggled.

"You _love_ Mirajane," Lisanna teased.

"Too bad Happy isn't around," Lucy agreed. "So he could see how much you _love_ Mirajane."

Mira only giggled while Laxus sent them glares before leaning across the bar and kissing his girlfriend.

"I gotta go," he grumbled. "Just wanted to come and tell you that. Okay?"

"Mmmhmm." She was still all giggly. "I love you too, Laxus."

He only patted her on the head as well as Lisanna before turning to leave. Snorting as he walked out the guild doors, he silently dared anyone to challenge or tease him. They didn't. Not that he would care.

Because he did love Mirajane. He did.

…It just took a mistake in the mood for him to realize it.


End file.
